Yuri Manga: Kannazuki no Miko, Manga Vol. 1

May 2nd, 2005

I have read several comments about my earlier reviews of the Kannazuki no Miko anime stating that I was over-harsh, that it was a good story with lots of lovely yuri, etc, etc…. I remain unrepentant. I do not think it is harsh to require a story to make sense or at least to be internally consistent. The anime made no sense. The horrible eternal fates that Oogami, Chikane and Himeko fought against were, to be sure, horrible. But, and here’s the crux of my complaints, they lasted a few minutes, not millennia. The ridiculousness of the ending of the anime sucked whatever meaning the plot had managed to hold on to (which was damn little considering the bad guy in the series turned out to be not much more than a really loud voice.) No. I’m sorry – I was not harsh.

However…I am about to be harsh.

This manga is a piece of utter, plotless dreck, wrapped up in frisson of hormonal angst, senseless screaming and a rape scene that has no meaning or context, because the story simply stops. I imagine that a second volume was initially planned, but none has been printed, so there is pretty much no explanation at all of anything. Which is kind of a mercy, because if the explanations are anything like the ones from the anime, they will make no sense at all, and simply cease to have any meaning at some point.

Yes, I am perfectly aware of the meaning of the rape, and all the other stuff that goes on, and if a decent writer got a hold of it, it would all make a damn GOOD story. But no decent writer did, and the version we are forced to endure has SO many plot holes, assumptions and sections where common sense simply has to be abandoned, that I just can’t say that it all makes sense, and still look at myself in the mirror.  (I love you, so I will rape you so you hate me so you kill me, so I can protect you from a horrible fate. Only a schizoid personality can make that make sense.)

Kaishaku, the mangaka also known for Steel Angel Kurumi isn’t really known for strong plots. I sincerely hope that he didn’t write this as well, but was just hired to illustrate someone else’s story. It reads like a story idea that just sort of peters out mid-way, like a fanfic writer who burns out halfway through an epic Evangelion fic.

Okay – to be fair, the plot, such as it is, is pretty much the same as the anime, with a little more time for Miyako, the nun/1st Kubi. Also, Chikane is, IMHO, much more openly seductive and desirous (and not in the bizarro-world psychotic way of the anime, but in a genuine, gosh-I-want-you normal way) of Himeko. For her part, Himeko is less wishy-washy, but only because there’s less of the manga to be wishy-washy in.

The final score at the end of volume one is: Kisses from Himeko; Oogami 1, Chikane 1. Rape of Himeko; Chikane 1, Oogami 0. So depending on what kind of person you are, Chikane either has won or lost.

Doesn’t matter, though, because the story doesn’t end…heck, it barely even starts.

Posted in Kannazuki no Miko, Yuri Manga | 12 Comments »


Yuri Manga: Uchyuu no Stellvia, Volume 2

April 30th, 2005

I spent *alot* of time and money buying new and used Dengeki Comics in Tokyo. I had a few older series to catch up on, and some new ones to pick up. I’d been looking for this one used for a while, and was able to finally get it in Nakano. Yay me.

The first volume of the manga is pretty much a straightfoward repeat of the anime. The art is even cuter-faced than the anime, but the story was pretty much exactly the same as the first two DVDs or so of the anime. Which means not so much Ayaka and Yayoi. Hence the lack of review.

Volume 2 starts with a very nice picture of our two Yuri poster girls, which I have scanned for your viewing pleasure:

You are welcome. ;-)

As Volume 2 is about as far as the manga seems to have gone, the story ends with the Great Mission, and the last few chapters speed through a lot of the plot complications. Sadly that means Jojo, Akira and the two teachers all get shafted of their lovely little love affairs. However, nearly a whole chapter is turned over to Yayoi and Ayaka, while Shima and Kouta get about three pages total…so I think it’s a good read all around. :-) And let’s face it – the Great Mission wasn’t that exciting anyway. Did we *really* think that the world was going to be destroyed when we have cherub-faced and pink cheeked heroes and heroines to save it? Nah.

We learn early on in the manga that Ayaka flies her Katie with a picture of Yayoi from before her accident…we are allowed to see that the picture was originally of the two of them arm embracing happily. Ayaka has cut herself out of the picture and taped Yayoi onto her dashboard.

In the manga while Yayoi’s accident (which was caused by Ayaka in both anime and manga) did stem from jealousy, it wasn’t the same level of homicidal pathology that characterized the anime Ayaka. And she didn’t repeat the murder attempt with Shima. In this case, as in the anime, Shima and Rina take stupid risks on the joust and happen to simulate a situation similar to Yayoi’s and Ayaka’s.

In an attempt to absolve herself of her sin, Ayaka had developed a program that she uploads to Shima, which allows her to save Rina. The event forces Ayaka and Yayoi to confront their past and their feelings for one another. While it wasn’t *quite* a cool as coming out in front of the whole world, their moment is very emotional, full of tears, and embraces and promises to never leave one another’s side.

But, at the end, when Ayaka unbends and joins the rest of the Big 4 for their ritual meal around a bubbling nabe, she looks *awfully* perky and happy all of a sudden. We have a name for that look around my house…”the freshly fucked look” is what we call it. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 7
Character – 7
Yuri – 7

Overall – 7

The biggest problem with the manga? It ends too soon.

Posted in Stellvia, Yuri Manga | 2 Comments »


The End of an Era: Kaguya-hime Manga, Vols. 26 & 27

April 27th, 2005

Wow. I never honestly thought that this series would end.

For a refresher course in the utter weirdness that is this series, try this synopsis from 2004.

But if you haven’t read all 27 volumes, it won’t really help. ^_^

Okay, when we last left Akira and her gaggle of obsessives, crackpots, aliens, mythical beings and assorted other psychotic hangers-on, we’d basically determined that her father was the source of all evil on the planet, as well as being incestuously obsessed with Akira. His name is Kashiwagi, so we never really expected much from him in the way of being good. ^_^

And to his credit, since Akira slept with her foster mother and sister, we really can’t blame her foster father for falling prey to the same urges….I guess….

Yui and Midori and Akira are still embroiled in a passionate, yet hopeless, three-way love triangle, while Mayu (who has, after dozens of suicide attempts has come to realize that her foster sister will never again sleep with her) has finally let go of Akira.

Sutton and Miller (who, due to taking over his clone’s body, is now the crown Prince of England) almost finally get together, but in a bizarro-world ending, *don’t*. Of all of the non-couples, this one bugged me the most.

Because…after Yui finally kills Kashiwagi and revenges himself for all the crap he has put the world through, and after an hugely emotional scene in which Akira and Yui restore the world’s peace from outer space…Yui leaves and Akira marries Miller.

Huh?

Yes, after all the Yuri and BL and incest and violence and clones and strange science and dinosaurs and Tennyo, Akira and Miller just get married and live happily ever after.

However, as Akira lays dying after a long life (but not having aged a day) like Kaguya-hime of the legend, the Tennyo – in this case, Yui – comes and takes Akira back to her rightful place at his side on, presumably, the moon. Or something.

So the ending, while filled with the same level of violence and sex and weirdness that makes the story so damn cool, gets all unbent. The boys all marry the girls, Sutton goes back to his wife (well…his clone’s wife, anyway) and poor Mayu is :*completely* forgotten about. I insist that she remained in China with Shunran and lived happily ever after in as normal a lesbian relationship as one could have in a mythological feudal Chinese kindgom surrounded by people who are obsessively in love with one’s foster-sister. For this story, that *would* be a relatively normal relationship.

Ratings:

Art – 10
Story – 9, but it’s love it or hate it
Characters – 9, again, you either love them, or…
Yuri – 0

Overall – I don’t regret a single moment spent with this series. But I sure as heck want to start over from the beginning and re-read all the bits where Akira’s foster mother, sister,and her servant Shunran, sleep with her. Not for any particular reason, I guess it’s just that those were the moments I disliked Akira least.

Posted in Yaoi Manga, Yuri Manga | 4 Comments »


Yuri Manga: Bakuretsu Tenshi, Volume 1

April 26th, 2005

If you like gonzo stories about two women who travel around from place to place, always on the wrong side of the law, never enough money, lives full of violence and non-paying jobs helping people out, but gosh, they have each other…then Bakaretsu Tenshi, Angels’ Adolescence is just the ticket.

And that about covers it. :-)

I didn’t review the anime for Bakuretsu Tenshi/Burst Angel, because the yuri was pretty thin. In fact, the anime worked pretty hard to wipe out any love-love between Meg and Jo, going so far as to spend nearly an entire episode dedicated to Meg pining for a guy in a way that was totally unconvincing.

However, the manga seems a little less coy. Not that we get Jo and Meg sucking face or anything, but still, it’s an improvement. In this incarnation, Meg fantasizes several times about getting closer to Jo, driving off in a sports car with her, having an intimate moment for two with her, etc. etc.

All this in between Jo blowing people away with her big-ass gun (TM) and looking cool, of course.

Even the “schlub boy” character isn’t really annoying or offensive and his fanservice quotient is very low, which is a welcome relief to this burnt-out and increasingly cynical fan girl.

Is it a *good* story? Depends on what you like. As sick as I am of loli and moe, I am ready to admit that I cling to this manga like a drowning woman to a life preserver. LOL

Ratings:
Art – 8
Character – 7
Story – 6
Yuri – 6

Overall – 7, but here’s hoping for an increase in story and Yuri ratings.

Girls x Guns x Gonzo = Sounds good to me.  ^_^

Posted in Bakuretsu Tenshi, Yuri Manga | 5 Comments »


Yuri Anime: Gakuen Alice Update

April 25th, 2005

Jet lag is not fun. My only consolation is that everyone else who went to Japan with me feels the same way, so it isn’t me. Maybe it was the earthquake, but probably not. ^_^

In any case, I spent this weekend catching up on anime, including several excellent, but essentially non-Yuri series like Emma and Speed Grapher. And while I was at it, I managed to get up-to-date with Gakuen Alice, the only series I am currently watching with a Yuri couple that doesn’t make me want to cringe. (I say this because I am valiantly watching a few other series, which I will write about anon, that make me feel quite disgusted. All for the sake of Yuri. Sigh.)

Gakuen Alice only has a few more episodes left in its run, which is too bad, because it’s been pretty decent. As you may remember from my November review of this series, this anime is about your basic normal girl, Mikan, in the decidedly non-normal circustances of a school filled with children who have special powers and no manners.

The series follows Mikan as she surmounts enormous odds to turn the obnoxious brats of the school into friends, allies and even admirers. Her “alice” is nullification, which means that she can’t be hurt by other alices, but of course, she can be mortified and embarrassed. Much like Bink from Piers Anthony’s original Xanth book, from way back when he actually wrote novels that weren’t just collections of dumb puns about Florida.

I’d like to say that the saving grace of this series was the yuri love between Mikan and her bestest friend Hotaru…but I’d be lying if I did. Throughout most of the series, Hotaru has acted as if Mikan was nothing more than a bother – although from Mikan’s point of view, Hotaru has become increasingly desirable. We are treated to a scene mid-series where Mikan is caught snuggling her pillow and kissing it while dreaming of Hotaru.

So it’s been pretty much one-sided Yuri.

About 3/4 through the series, Hotaru thaws. In Episode 20, while the writers are cleverly tring to distract us with a non-existent straight love triangle between Mikan and Ruka and Natsume, Hotaru goes all Yuri with style.

Apparently, at the school dance, whoever you have the last dance with will love you forever or some such kind of thing. Ruka asks Mikan for the dance, but it turned down graciously. He gets an earlier dance, which he accepts just as graciously. It is supposed to appear that Natsume will be the recipient of Mikan’s last dance request, however, Hotaru has other plans. She has won some kind of contest and is allowed to choose any partner from among the entire crowd. In front of everyone, over the PA system so *no one* misses the announcement, she chooses Mikan. Yay Hotaru!

See above picture for reference. ^_^

Since then, Hotaru has been much more physically open with Mikan, allowing all the hugs and physical affection she previously rejected. I don’t see this relationship going any further, but in my opinion, this was a major battle won. We can hope for a first kiss snuck in there somewhere, off-stage at least.. ^_^

So, with two episodes to go, I still don’t know what’s going to happen in the plot, which makes me wish that the series would continue a little longer.

Ratings:

Story – 8
Characters – 8
Art – 7
Music – 7
Yuri – 7

Overall – a strong 7 with high recommendation, especially as the rest of this season is looking pretty bad for Yuri fans. ^_^

Posted in Yuri Anime | 16 Comments »